This is a work that no longer exists and in fact only lasted for a few moments. The idea was to just play and get an interesting texture that might inspire a new work. I had just seen an exhibit of the French artist Yves Klein who in the 1960s did a series of canvases painted a very rich dark blue, like a slab of the ocean or sky  had been cut out and pasted on the museum walls. I wanted to have that feeling of vast space, a sky that might hint at the infinity that lies behind it. The black bar seemed necessary as a reference point since it feels so heavy and close, a step out to the deep beyond.  I worked up a rich impasto of many different blues and blended them together. I knew this was only the beginning but couldn’t think of what else do with it. The blue still looked flat with nothing in front of it.. I tried placing various objects: scissors, a glass bottle, a cigarette pack, etc. on  the canvas to see what the result would be. The pennies I thought especially looked good since their color contrasts with the blue. They look somewhat like a constellation of stars. Maybe the little angel is praying for some hard cash and having his wish granted. Since then this has turned into a more traditional landscape, which I will show at a later date.

Rustic Scene, oil on canvas, 24" x 12"

Recently I spent two weeks in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts on an art retreat. I combined meditation and painting every day as well as relaxed and read and toured the countryside. The area is full of beautiful old barns, most of them well maintained and crisply painted, surrounded by freshly mowed lawns. I wandered a bit off the main road and found this barn and overgrown orchard that was somewhat run down but still very much in use. I liked the whole comfortably shabby feel of the place and the warm greens and ochres in the grass that contrasted with the blue sky and grey faded wood. It felt very familiar, and indeed I did grow up near a place quite like this, where my grandmother lived. I can just smell the freshly baked cookies wafting from her kitchen…

City Lights, oil on canvas, 12" x 24"

Painted after sunset from a busy  corner in Bethesda, in front of Barnes & Noble.  There is a moment, just when the light from the store interior matches in value the fading light from the sky, when all the colors get very intense, almost fluorescent. Painting in a crowded area like this was at first daunting, what with crowds of moviegoers and restaurant patrons flowing back and forth, but in the end the biggest challenge was to find parking.

Portal, oil on canvas, 16" x 20"

Another  canvas, painted in late afternoon, of the cathedral. The cathedral faces west and captures the light from the setting sun and just glows. This was painted from the lawn reach is crisscrossed with arcing walkways. I tried to weave a tapestry of contrasting colors which seems to work with the intricacy of the architecture.

looking up from the bishops garden

This is from the second location of my class “Evening Landscape Painting.” I painted this a few days before the class met to get used to the venue, though it was painted in the morning so the light was very different. The Washington National Cathedral makes an natural choice for a subject. Standing on the highest point in Washington it is always lit spectacularly from sunrise to sunset. Its stone is a remarkable color that  seems to flicker between pink and yellow, so you get to choose what color you want to paint it. I painted this standing in the Bishop’s Garden, looking up at a magnificent tree with bright yellow leaves. The garden seemed so rich and inviting compared to the austere and  and somewhat harsh appearance of the cathedral. I left its lit portions almost white which contrast with the dark shadows draws you eye at first to the top then down the spires to the garden where you can slow down for a nice stroll.

river islands late day

cool water hot rocks

outward bound kayak

I have been teaching a class, Evening Landscape Painting on Location, sponsored by the Yellow Barn Studio. The class meets at various outdoor locations Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm. I haven’t heard of anyone else who teaches a weekday class  as the sun begins to set; maybe I am the first! It is a real challenge, even for an experienced painter to paint en plein air when the light is changing so rapidly. But it is amazing to watch as the colors mutate from deep orange to deep blue, with purples and turquoises to match, within the space of a few hours.  The paintings that you see here I painted down along the Potomac River, at the Anglers Inn entrance.We met there the first two weeks of the class.

Deliveries Only

Another work along the same line  of the city scene I did earlier this year. Like the previous piece it is acrylic on paper and based on a photograph of a street in nearby Bethesda. I experimented in both with adding a lot of texture to the paint, in this case with pumice gel that I felt  added to the feeling of concrete and harsh summer light.  The point of the painting was to include as many details of city life as possible, to have some respect for the lives lived in each window, but to also to have the painting work abstractly as pictorial space, to have the eye led gradually into and out of the painting. Secondarily there is a little mini-drama going on of a delivery van parked in the street and a car having to cross into the opposite lane to pass it. Drama might be too strong a word, but we do take our driving infractions seriously here in Bethesda.

Construction/Destruction

This large, 3′ x 4′ painting was inspired by photographs I took of an abandoned field that was slated for a housing development. There was some sign of construction, of freshly dug raw earth and plastic orange  fencing and piles of dirt but basically with the economy the way it is the site has been left in this in-between state for over a year. Right next to this is a new shopping mall that is only half occupied. You can see this in the upper left part of the painting. I think what attracted me originally to the site was the  orange fencing against the green grass. While I worked on the painting I added gestural orange lines that seemed to suggest plans for future building. If you asked me to explain what this painting was about I would say something about the contrast of land as an actual place vs. our concept of ownership and business. But really I just like the way orange glows against the other colors and the spidery lines of dry grass. I feel like the hole in the earth might conceal buried treasure.

Great Falls, looking down over whirlpool, towards Virginia side

Top of the Falls

Two pastel paintings (drawings? sketches?) from Great Falls in Potomac, Maryland. Visitors are allowed to clamber over the rocks around the falls though signs warn of the mortal dangers of one slip up. There were a number of nice flat rocks to sit on that overlooked the white rushing water.   The day was beautiful with a deep blue sky and  trees and foliage still very green from recent rains. It was a challenge to capture the water as it rushed by and to give it the look of movement and not just a static foreground . It might be more effective just to leave the paper untouched and let the viewer fill that in with their imagination. The color of the rocks is very beautiful. Their tops are pale green with lichen and nearer the water they are pink with dried mud. And when the water gets them wet they are almost black.  I am enjoying pastels. They are easy to transport and easy to apply. If you apply them with a light touch you can leave a little bit of the white paper sparkling through or you can use your finger to smear two colors with a smooth blur. Balancing the sparkle and blur seems to be  the point.